Is it valuable? How valuable? Does quality matter? Is human life always valuable? What would make human life less valuable? At what point is it valuable? Does the value of human life always take precedence over other types of life? Are four human lives more valuable than three human lives, if all seven humans are identical?
The value of human life
- Thread starter Roman
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Roman said:
This part is fallacious; at no time can the seven humans actually be identical.
The answer depends on perspective.
Human life is only as valuable, in the end, as each individual chooses to consider it. There is a cumulative measure in social expression, but the question of whether the cumulative or individual expression is the accurate measure of what people truly believe is up in the air.
It takes nine months to make a human being, and currently several years to make a computer game.
By that rationale, a computer game is more valuable than a human life.
On a more cold and detached note, there are 6,000,000,000 of us....but to everyone the value of those connected to them in some way is more valuable than almost anything.
It's all relative.
By that rationale, a computer game is more valuable than a human life.
On a more cold and detached note, there are 6,000,000,000 of us....but to everyone the value of those connected to them in some way is more valuable than almost anything.
It's all relative.
If it is your life how do you consider yourself?
Septiplets, all identical, newly born. Sure, there may be SOME differences, but you wouldn't know enough molecular genetics to point them out, so as far as everyone's concerned, they're identical.
The only value something can have is the value something or someone ascribes to it. Usually, in our case, that someone is a human or group of humans. Nothing is inherently valuable. So a person may be valuable to one person, and hardly valuable to another person. Certainly your family members value you more than strangers on the street value you. As for whether quality matters, I'm sure it does. I tend to like and value high quality people more than low quality people, though there is some arbitrariness is what constitutes 'quality'. But I like people who are honest, have integrity, are intelligent, practical, decent and compassionate. Those are things that make a person a high quality person, and I think a lot of people would agree with me, which is why I don't think those criteria are completely arbitrary. Human life is always valuable as long as someone or something values it. I could go on, but I think you get my reasoning here.
Roman said:
As they occupy different space, they are experiencing the world differently, thus altering their values in relation to one another.
My larger point is that, while the value of human life is a worthwhile consideration, the manner in which the question is framed is not. If, someday, so simple a decision arises, it would be my honor to address it. But as I cannot imagine that situation, it seems useless for me to prepare for it. Aside from that, at some point, yes, I would play a numbers game.